Phuket acts to clean up jet-ski woes

Some of Phuket's jet-ski operators at the crisis meeting last week at Patong Municipality offices.

Video footage posted on YouTube showing a jet-ski rental operator threatening a British tourist with a gun would tarnish Thailand's reputation, whether the incident was real or fake, Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob said yesterday.

Wichai said he had written to embassies of several countries whose tourists complained about jet-ski operators in Phuket, to try to explain the problem.

Police have arrested a man seen with a gun in the video clip, but it is not yet clear if the incident was real or a stunt for a reality show in a foreign country.

Wichai said provincial authorities had received several complaints about jet-ski operators extorting money from foreign tourists from China, Japan and Australia, as well as some Thais, even before the YouTube footage.

He said they were trying to solve the problem but there was no clear evidence until the video emerged. Officials worked with police to arrest the person shown in the footage and he was now in custody at Kathu police station. He was reported to have confessed.

"The man's action, whether it's real or set-up for a show, is not right, especially if it was a set-up because it can be considered an intention to severely damage Phuket and Thai tourism," the governor said.

Officials called a meeting of jet-ski operators in Phuket and related agencies last week to set rules for jet-ski renting services. They plan to register and record the work history of jet-ski operators.

They will limit the number to jet-skis to 219 and try to get operators to have insurance to prevent problems in the event of rented jet-skis getting damaged.

Some 40 jet-ski operators and insurance companies were invited to try to set conditions for insurance next week, Wichai said, noting that this was a preferred solution.

"I'm not against them making a decent living out of this sport, but they must do it right and get into the insurance system. They can charge the insurance fee in the renting fee, say the usual Bt1,500 per 30 minutes could rise to Bt1,600."

Officials would also look into reports that some operators use Burmese workers as jet-ski boys.

Phuket had sent a letter explaining the problem to various embassies, initially focusing on countries whose citizens had filed complaints about jet-ski operators in Phuket such as the UK, Australia, China and Japan, Wichai said.

They would check with people who wrote complaints to see if the arrested man was the same person who extorted money from them. Officials would discuss the situation with legal experts about what they could do.

He hoped that efforts by the province and local agencies would restore tourists' confidence.

"This problem had been here a long time but the lack of evidence deterred authorities from doing anything much about it until now. This is the first time the allegation materialised," he said adding that they would seek the maximum penalty for offences - to warn others not to try such acts.

There were similar problems with car and motorbike rental businesses and some people's illegal acts were hurting honest business operators, he said.